Madison Avenue

Recession or not, when Erin Lima makes the trip from Philadelphia to New York City, “shopping is inevitable.”

“Every time you come here you have to,” she said, while browsing the handbag section of Bergdorf Goodman on Saturday with her husband in tow. “You can’t help yourself.”

The Limas and another couple got “the best deal ever” on a weekend at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Battery Park City, she said: $250 a night on a deluxe suite overlooking the park, with a cook-to-order breakfast and free drinks during cocktail hour included in the rate. “Can you stand it?” Ms.  read more »

The Cushman & Wakefield Global Retail Market Report released on Wednesday showed that the average retail rent for space along Fifth Avenue had jumped 23 percent annually in June 2008 to $1,850 a square foot per year. That made that stretch of Manhattan the world's most expensive retail corridor.

But there's also Madison Avenue and East 57th Street, the No. 2 and No. 3 most expensive retail corridors, respectively, in North America. The average per foot annually for Madison was $1,200; and for East 57th, $900. (The next closest in North America is Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive at $670.)

Madison and East 57th's rents, however, were rather static, staying identical in June to the averages 12 months earlier.

Take that, Sam Chang!

A budget Madison Avenue hotel (dubbed, appropriately enough, Madison Hotel), has traded for a cool $32 million, according to city records uploaded today.

The hotel, at 62 Madison Avenue, rents out single rooms, with bath and shower and AC, for just $138 dollars a night, doubles for $150.65, and "family rooms" for $163.30.

The buyer, an entity called Madison Hotel LLC, closed on the 11-story building on Aug. 28.

It’s a sign of the times: Japanese firm Hiro North American Properties’ sale of the office tower at 650 Madison Avenue has closed, and, at $680 million, it’s the biggest building sale of 2008 so far (and the only over $400 million). Wasn’t too long ago—10 months, give or take—that $680 million for a Midtown building was ho-hum.

Not anymore. In the fourth month of 2008, $680 million is the new $1 billion. It’s a deal to be picked apart. So let’s do so.  read more »

In my Manhattan Tranfers item today on gold watch guru Benny Shabtai’s townhouse at 870 Park Avenue, I tried to figure out why someone who couldn’t sell his house in 2006 for $19.9 million would try selling it now for $33 million.

The Brown Harris managing director John Burger, who isn’t involved with the listing, gave me this explanation for why Upper East Side buyers might actually like the $13.1 million difference: “A $5,000 dress in a window on Madison Avenue is much more interesting to a woman than a $1,000 dress,” he said. “It’s true.”  read more »

Lev Leviev will soon have some competition up on Madison Avenue.

Mauboussin, the high-end Parisian jeweler, has signed on for 8,400 square feet at 714 Madision Avenue, according to Newmark Knight Frank’s Amira Yunis. The building was formerly occupied by upscale women’s clothing store Shanghai Tang.

Founded in 1827, Mauboussin is one of the oldest jewelers in Paris. It will certainly have its work cut out it for itself at 714 Madison, where the rent comes in at just over $2 million for the year.  read more »

The 5th Avenue Chocolatiere is opening up its fourth Manhattan location.

The 30-year old family-owned and operated chocolate company has leased 300 square feet at 11 Madison Avenue, according to Winick Realty. The company signed a 10-year lease in the building that also houses the Danny Meyer staples Tabla and Eleven Madison Avenue. The asking rent on the space was $200 per foot.  read more »

Fifth Avenue in midtown remains the most expensive corridor on Earth for retailers to rent along, but Madison Avenue, for the first time, isn't too far behind. A recent report from brokerage Cushman & Wakefield said the average asking rent for retail space on Madison Avenue in midtown was $1,019 a square foot annually by the middle of 2007. That's the first time the average has passed the $1,000 mark, and is a $134 increase from mid-2006.  read more »